Harry Potter and the Prophet's Curse
by La Obscure Duckling
Summary: The classic New Girl on the Block story, set in the wizarding world, with a few new twisties and turns
1. Default Chapter

Harry Potter and the Prophet's Curse  
  
Chapter One: Books and Birthdays  
  
pThe rain fell softly on the roof of number 4, Privet Drive, as a 15- year-old boy sat on his bed, feeding an owl. pHarry Potter was probably the only 15-year-old boy who fed owls in secret on his birthdays, at night. But then, what other 15-year-old boy would be forced to not celebrate his birthday during the day? pHarry's aunt and uncle had always ignored his birthdays. So had Harry, at that, because no one has ever given him a present until he was 13. But ever since then, Harry had received 3 packages by owl post on July 31st, and he had made a bit of a tradition of opening them at midnight. pThis year, he had gotten a large box of Fizzing Whizbees from Ron, an original Hagrid birthday cake, and a book on curses, from Hermione. Harry thumbed through Dark Curses; Why Aren't These Ones Illegal, in between handing owl treats to Errol, Ron's very old owl. p It wasn't just the presents and letters that had improved his birthdays since he started at Hogwarts 5 years ago. Now, rather than dreading his imminent return to Muggle school, Harry was able to appreciate how much closer he was to his return to Hogwarts, the first place he had ever felt really happy. pAs Errol shuffled off to get some water from Hedwig's cage, Harry read through Ron's letter again. pHappy Birthday Harry! pI hope you still like Fizzing Whizbees. So they contain bits of bugs, no big deal! ( pHermione wrote to me, saying that she is in America for August. She gets around more in her summers than most people do in their lives! pDad said the Ministry is implementing some sort of new course at Hogwarts, to do with some wonky sub-division of Divination or something. We can only hope Prof. Trelawney doesn't possess the "inner eye" needed for this. I don't think I could take much more of her this year than me we are already doomed to. pSee you at school! pRon  
  
pHarry folded the letter back up, and put it with the rest of his birthday cards. He couldn't imagine what sort of course the Ministry was implementing, but he agreed with Ron; he couldn't imagine a worse way to start the year than the announcement of a new class taught by the creepy Prof Trelawney, except perhaps, one taught by Snape. pHarry smiled to himself, imagining the look on Snape's face when he finds out that he didn't get the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher again, as he surely would not, and fell asleep.  
  
Chapter Two: Vernon's Vacation  
  
p Harry woke up suddenly the next morning to loud, happy voices from the kitchen. He figured that either Dudley, Harry's porky, Muggle cousin, had agreed to eat his grapefruit without complaint, or Aunt Petunia had discovered some juicy tidbit about the neighbours, and so he tried to go back to sleep. He had almost succeeded in doing so, when he heard a smart rapping on his bedroom door, followed by his uncle's voice, which sounded somewhat less joyous as Aunt Petunia's had.  
p "Get out of that bed now, boy. We need to have a discussion!"  
pYawning, Harry rolled out of bed, pulled on a jumper, and went out to the kitchen. He expected Aunt Petunia to be standing by the table, brandishing some obvious proof of Harry's alleged misdeeds, but instead, saw both Vernon and Petunia sitting at the table, examining a small pile of papers. Uncle Vernon motioned for Harry to sit down.  
p "Boy, your Aunt and I are going away for a bit. I won a ticket raffle at work. Dudley is staying at his friend's for the month."  
pHarry was a bit puzzled at his uncle's expression. Vernon looked slightly tense, and his eyes were narrowed, as though he was carefully negotiating with a potentially dangerous person, and needed his full concentration.  
p "We need you to go stay at one of your.err.friend's houses for a bit."  
Harry smiled to himself. Of course, Vernon looked tense. That was how he always looked, whenever he was forced to make any mention of the wizarding world. /p  
p "Oh", Harry responded. "You mean Ron's house?"  
pVernon said nothing, but nodded curtly.  
pAfter only a moment's pause, Harry informed Uncle Vernon that he would write to Ron, explaining.  
p "Don't get your hopes up, though" he added, grinning. "I mean, they might not be available!" Uncle Vernon's face darkened in expression, as it always did when he saw Harry smile.  
p "You had better hope they are, boy."  
pHarry just shrugged, still grinning, and ran back to his room  
  
Chapter 3: Burrow Bound  
  
pAs soon as Harry got back to his room, he grabbed his quill and some parchment, and wrote Ron.  
pRon,  
pThe Muggles are going on vacation. I hate to ask, but could I stay at yours this month? pPlease write back as soon as you can.  
pHarry  
  
pHarry had been invited to stay with the Weasleys several times, and it had always been fine, but Harry hated having to ask them himself. All the same, the idea of spending the last bit of the holidays with anyone other than the Dursleys, especially Ron's family, was very appealing.  
  
pRon's answer never arrived in letter-form, but Ron did, two days later, via Floo Powder. The Dursleys had only one experience with wizarding chimney-travel previously, and it had not been a good one. Thus, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were standing at the furthest point of the living room from the fireplace, and Dudley was not there at all, when Ron and Mr Weasley appeared.  
pRather than waste time with futile greetings to Harry's unpleasant relatives, Mr Weasley and Ron both turned immediately to Harry, and asked if he had his things packed.  
pHarry nodded, and with Ron's help, pulled his heavy Hogwarts trunk over to the hearth. Harry could tell Ron's father was a bit tense around the Dursleys, considering how the had acted at their last meeting, so Harry turned quickly to Mr Weasley.  
p "That's everything!"  
Smiling, Mr Weasley lifted the trunk, extracted a pinch of Floo Powder from the pot in his hand, and handed the pot to Ron.  
p "You two follow along straight away, alright?"  
pBoth boys nodded, and in a puff of green smoke, Mr Weasley disappeared.  
pNot wanting to remain in the house any more than his father did, Ron handed Harry the pot, took a bit of powder, and in seconds, had also vanished.  
pFinally, Harry carried the pot to the fireplace, and turned back to the Dursleys/p  
p "Have a lovely holiday, then."  
pAnd with that, he was gone. 


	2. A Week with the Weasleys

Harry Potter and the Prophet's Curse  
  
Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters or  
places described in this work, except for ones which I will make note of as  
they come. So far, my only original work here is my own plot, but at least  
2 original characters will be introduced later on, so keep reading. Also,  
descriptions of the characters are reflective of J.K Rowling's  
descriptions, not the people who play the characters in the movies.  
  
Chapter Four: A Week with the Weasleys  
pHarry arrived at the Weasley's home in a rush of soot, which he  
instantly regretted creating, as it looked like Mrs Weasley had just been  
scrubbing the floors.  
p "Sorry, Mrs Weasley, I can help you clea."  
pShaking her head, Molly Weasley hugged Harry, and gestured for him to  
sit down at the table, with the rest of the family. She was not the sort of  
woman who would allow a guest in her house to clean the Floo soot off the  
floor the moment he arrived.  
pLooking around the table, Harry recognized 3 faces he had not already  
seen that day; all redheaded. Fred and George Weasley, identical twins from  
their stocky stature to their freckle on their forehead, and long-haired,  
smiling Ginny, who was going into her 4th year at Hogwarts.  
pThe rest of the family had not, evidently, waited for any new arrivals  
before starting their dinner, so Harry grinned and began filling his own  
plate with shepherd's pie and salad.  
pAlmost as soon as Harry has his first mouthful en route, the dinnertime  
chatter erupted again. Mr and Mrs Weasley were discussing Percy's work  
schedule.  
p "I know he works late a lot, Molly dear, but shouldn't we just be  
grateful he is motivated enough to work?"  
p "Arthur, I am glad that Percy enjoys his work, but he needs to come  
home sometime."  
pMeanwhile, Ron turned to Harry.  
p "I got a letter from Hermione, almost right after I got yours, Harry.  
Her aunt there fell ill while they were visiting, and her parents want to  
stay and take care of her, but there isn't a flight back to England between  
next week and September the 2nd, so she needs to come back by herself, and  
she will be staying with us!"  
pEverything seemed perfect that night, with the cheerful family chatter,  
warm food, and crackling fire. Harry couldn't remember a dinner he had  
enjoyed more since Gryffindor had last won the House Cup. Ron, Harry and  
the twins kept up an animated conversation, predominantly about Quidditch,  
long after the table had been cleared of dishes by a pair of levitating  
dish gloves.  
pAround midnight, all four boys plodded quietly upstairs, and fell  
silently into their beds, asleep on contact. Harry rolled over on his  
sleeping bag, and time only to acknowledge how happy he was to be where he  
was, before he too, fell asleep.  
*  
pThe next week past faster than any had before, the days full of  
Quidditch games on the hill, the evenings full of dinners in the garden,  
and gnome tossing. Ron and the twins always grumbled a bit when they were  
asked to de-gnome the garden, but they seemed to rather enjoy it once they  
got started.  
pFinally, after an entire week at the Burrow, Hermione arrived. Not  
in a rush of black Floo dust, but in a small cloud of brown dust from the  
road, did she show up at the Weasley's front door, somewhat winded, and  
holding the handle of her own Hogwarts trunk.  
p "It was so frustrating, having to drag that thing all the way  
from the bus station, when I could have easily used magic to do it." Apart  
from being one of the top students at Hogwarts, Hermione was sometimes a  
stickler for rules, though not so much as she had once been. Still, she  
would have probably dragged three trunks from Ottery St. Catchpole to the  
Burrow, before she knowingly broke the Restriction for Underage Wizardry,  
the law that prohibited students from using magic away from school.  
pAll the same, she was in good spirits as she ducked into the  
Weasley's front room, propped her trunk up against a bright orange chair,  
and sat down. Ron, Harry and Ginny joined her, as she described visiting  
Salem, Massachusetts, where her aunt lives.  
p "Mum and dad really wanted to come see me onto the train, but  
Aunt Ingrid looked really horrid, so they figured they had best stay for a  
bit. Anyhow, they knew I wanted to see you lot."  
pEveryone grinned, and then Ginny leaned towards Hermione, with a  
curious expression on her face.  
"So Hermione, have you heard about the new class at Hogwarts? Its about the  
History of Divination, or something."  
pWith inward groans, both Harry and Ron sank back into their  
chairs. They had better get comfortable. Without even speaking of it  
beforehand, they had carefully avoiding mentioning the new course to  
Hermione, because she hated Divination. They were happy to see her, of  
course, but Fred and George were still waiting, mid-Quidditch, by the apple  
tree. Once Hermione got started in on the new course, they would be stuck  
indoors all afternoon!  
pBracing themselves for the dullest two-hour rant ever, Ron and  
Harry looked over to Hermione, expecting to see an expression of  
indignation and annoyance.  
pBut, it never came. Instead, she smiled, and nodded to Ginny.  
p "Yes, I know, doesn't it sound interesting? I read about it in  
the Daily Prophet, and then did some research myself, while I was in Salem.  
Apparently, prophecy doesn't really have anything to do with Divination.  
Trelawney won't be teaching it, and we won't actually be learning it."  
pConfused, Harry opened his mouth to ask why they wouldn't be  
learning it, if it were one of their classes, but Hermione just kept  
talking.  
p "Prophecy isn't like Potions of Transfiguration, in that not any  
witch or wizard can do it. Completely aside from the ability for magic all  
Hogwarts students possess, a separate ability is required, if one were to  
become a prophet. Diviners, like Professor Trelawney, can sometimes go into  
genuine trances" (although Hermione looked very sceptical of this) "but  
trances and prophecy aren't the same thing. Prophecy isn't just telling the  
future, its."  
pSmiling knowingly, Hermione stopped for breath. "Anyhow, it is all  
very interesting, and I am sure you two will like the class better than you  
do Divination. Want to go outside?"  
pCaught midway between surprise and exasperation, Ron told Hermione about  
their half-done Quidditch game, and the three of them went outside to  
finish it. 


End file.
